Speaking to the media during the launch of the carrier's new service to Langkawi, Qatar Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker said that he had no prior notification of Delta's investment in LATAM. He added that as a minority shareholder, Qatar Airways had no direct influence over LATAM.

"We don’t dictate to LATAM how they should conduct their business. [It] is absolutely their prerogative with whom they want to have shareholding, with whom they want to work with," Al Baker said.

Following the Delta investment, LATAM said it will leave Oneworld and join Skyteam instead. Qatar Airways is a member of Oneworld, although Al Baker has repetitively threatened to leave over disagreements with American Airlines, which used to be LATAM's main US partner prior to the Delta deal. Al Baker said that the potential decision to leave Oneworld has been shelved for now as other alliance members offered to assist Qatar Airways and American Airlines in burying the hatchet.

Meanwhile, Kenya-based weekly The East African has reported that Qatar Airways would be planning to buy a stake in RwandAir (WB, Kigali) from the Rwandan government. No details were made available regarding the potential size of the stake under negotiations and the timeline for the acquisition. Both airlines refused to comment on the rumours.

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Atlas Air (5Y, New York JFK) will end its partnership with Danish transport and logistics provider DSV Panalpina in July, cooperation it had renewed for a five-year term in 2015, sources told The Loadstar.

The contract covered B747-8F N850GT (msn 37570), which conducted operations based in Luxembourg. But when the coronavirus outbreak altered cargo as well as passenger transport, DSV Panalpina switched to utilising its Atlas Air-operated freighter between Huntsville and Shanghai Pudong 3x weekly, Air Cargo World reported at the time.

The aircraft briefly returned to Luxembourg for the first time in three months on June 2, but lacking its Panalpina livery. It had spent one month on the ground in Hong Kong Int'l, from April 20 to May 23, which is probably when it was repainted, The Loadstar speculated.

Sources suggested that DSV Panalpina may recreate its air cargo network out of blocked space...

Qatar Airways Group has warned both major aircraft manufacturers to agree to delivery deferrals on pain of losing future business with the carrier.

"We are negotiating with both Boeing and Airbus to fulfil our requirement to defer and we hope that both the manufacturers will oblige. They have no other alternative to oblige," Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker told Reuters.

While he did not elaborate on the details of deferrals sought by Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad Int'l), Al Baker specifically identified the B737-8 as being subject to negotiations with Boeing. The Qatari carrier has an order for 60 of the type through lessors. Three were already delivered and used to be operated by Air Italy, 49%-owned by Qatar Airways Group, until the carrier's demise in February 2020. Al Baker said the airline will attempt to "sell" the aircraft that have already been delivered, although they are not owned by Qatar Airways but by Standard Chartered Aviation Finance, according to the ch-aviation fleets ownership module.

Kuwait Airways (KU, Kuwait) will be laying off almost 1,500 expatriate employees due to the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its commercial operations.

The airline said on May 28 that the layoff was part of its comprehensive plan to turn its finances around. “This difficult decision came due to the great difficulties that the company is facing in particular and the global aviation sector in general,” the airline said and thanked staff for their efforts.

The loss-making airline suspended flights from March 12 in response to the coronavirus pandemic, although it operated some 200 repatriation flights in April and May to bring back 30,000 Kuwaitis from abroad, Arab News reported. The airline employs approximately 7,000 people and had hoped to hire another 1,000 this year, according to Gulf News.

Kuwait Airways’ most recent full-year financial figures show the airline made a loss of KD131.9 million dinars (USD435 million), according to financials obtained by FlightGlobal.

LATAM Airlines Group and select of its entities in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and the United States have filed for Chapter 11 financial reorganisation in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York citing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

If the application is successful, Chapter 11 will allow the carrier holding to restructure its debt obligations with creditors. The group's largest shareholders include the Cueto family-owned Cueto Group (acting through its various subsidiaries) with 21.46%; Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) with 20%; and Qatar Airways Investments (UK) Ltd. with 10%. So far, Cueto Group as well as Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad Int'l) have collectively committed USD900 million in additional financing to tide the firm through the process.

LATAM Airlines Group said in a statement that while most of its affiliates are included in the reorganisation process, several entities are not, due to the nature of their debt structure and current financial status.